Mary-Sue of a Different Colour, A

Hellfire

3. Revelations

Disclaimer: I own the fish, the ranger and not much else …. definitely nothing recognizable !

'This is thoughts' hope you have enjoyed it so far.

Revelations

Morning was still a few moments away when the ranger came awake with a start. Something lingered in the back of his mind, a thought, a dream, or was it more? Pulling the cloak ever closer, the ranger slid into the still shadowed lands near camp. Climbing the same tree he had the night before, the ranger turned shining eyes upward awaiting the dawning hour.

Morning was still a few moments away when the ranger came awake with a start. Something lingered in the back of his mind, a thought, a dream, or was it more? Pulling the cloak ever closer, the ranger slid into the still shadowed lands near camp. Climbing the same tree he had the night before, the ranger turned shining eyes upward awaiting the dawning hour.

'Why do I feel this lingering sadness? Can I not even turn away when I walk to a doom of another's making? Sweet Eru, I am losing my sanity bit by bit. Do I dare to hope or is it truly a senseless game the Valar play?' The first streaks of the rising sun caught the ranger's face, illuminating it for but a fraction of a second before the ranger began to climb down the tree heading back to camp slowly.

The days wore on much the same way as the first. Every morning they awoke, had breakfast, broke camp, and walked onward. During the day, Legolas and Fire took turns scouting ahead. There seemed an uneasy truce between the two scouts, but the beginning friendship of Gimli and Fire perplexed all save Gandalf. Aragorn had finally gotten the ranger to grudgingly speak to him during the evening meals before Fire drifted off from camp. The hobbits continued to spar with Boromir much to the amusement of the others. Gimli took great pride in a sparing match of his own with the elf. The tension was always high when the dwarf and elf spoke, and usually either Aragorn or Gandalf had to intervene before they came to blows.

Legolas had also taken to leaving camp to find solitude. Unbeknownst to any of the Fellowship, the elf would silently sit in a tree near the ranger keeping a close eye on him. From concern for the safety of the ranger, or the suspicion the elf still held, Legolas did not know . There was just something wrong with this ranger and he was determined to find out what secrets Fire withheld from them all.

It was again Fire's turn to scout. He moved like a wraith, silent and shadowed along the path the Fellowship would take. Ever watchful, yet unconcerned, the ranger let his mind wander slightly. 'Yea I am now officially sick and tired of the monotony of scouting. I know I know a necessary evil but by the Valar must it be so deadly boring? Wonder if the elf is hating it as much as I am or is he too dumb to notice? Like I do not see him sitting within the trees close to me. Geez I know I have a reputation for bad temper fits but I am on their side or at least that is what I am being told EVER night by Aragorn. I swear that man is the most stubbornly obstinate man I have ever met. He is forever trying to get me to be his friend! Why does it matter for Eru's sake if I like him or not? I have no choice in my being here and if I had to be anyones friend it would be the dwarf. Least he does not badger me overmuch. I kind of agree with his assessment of the elf as being prissy and overly sensitive to insults. Legolas needs to get messy and grow a tougher skin, then he would be more tolerable. At least the hobbits and I have come to an understanding about how long to question me before risk of harm. Boromir still does not know what to think of me and Gand…" A small sound broke the ranger from his thoughts.

Walking quickly, yet silently, Fire drew closer to The sound that had caught his attention. So far, the scouting duty had been uneventful but the ranger knew danger was unavoidably before them. With a hiss, Fire scurried up a nearby tree just as a small group of orcs made an appearance. 'DAMNATION! Sauron's fell minions are heading right for the others. I need to warn them but there is no way to do it without being seen.' Frowning in concentration, Fire watched as the last of the orcs passed under the tree he occupied.

Walking quickly, yet silently, Fire drew closer to the sound that had caught his attention. So far, the scouting duty had been uneventful but the ranger knew danger was unavoidably before them. With a hiss, Fire scurried up a nearby tree just as a small group of orcs made an appearance. Frowning in concentration, Fire watched as the last of the orcs passed under the tree he occupied.

'Seven of the foul beasts, I will be cutting it close if I try to take them on myself but I can not risk the ring-bearer's life by calling for aid. Ok stupidity at its finest. Take out the first few with arrows, that should leave only a few for knife work.' The decision made, the ranger sighted on the first orc and let fly an arrow. Not stopping to see if the arrow killed the first victim, Fire continued to hurl arrows into the fell creatures. After the first four orcs succumbed to death, the other three rallied forces and began firing back at the ranger.

Throwing the bow on his back and pulling his knives free, Fire jumped from the low hanging branch into the remaining orcs. Slashing at the first one, the ranger landed a lucky blow to the neck of the closest orc. The remaining two circled the ranger making it difficult to fend off all the attacks. Feeling a pain along his side, Fire realized he was in trouble and dove out of reach. Coming out of a flying roll, the ranger was able to get his feet under him and plunge his knife deeply into the oncoming orc. Seeing its companion fall, the last orc bellowed and swung hard grazing the ranger's arm. Letting out a hiss of pain, Fire dodged the next blow and buried his knife in the orc's stomach. With a sigh of relief, Fire wiped his blades clean and sprinted back to the Fellowship.

About half way to the others Fire realized, both by the pain and amount of blood coming from the side wound, that he was in serious trouble. Worry chased the pain across the ranger's face as he felt himself becoming more weak and dizzy with each step. Having no choice, Fire pushed himself to move faster, as he could hear his companions over the next rise. Knowing he was going to lose consciousness at any moment, Fire took a deep breathe, said a silent prayer that the elf would hear him and screamed as loud as he could. "GANDALF ! " Weaving a few more paces , the ranger's eyes rolled up and he blacked out hitting his face in the grass.

Legolas was speaking softly to Aragorn about the strange feeling he had been having all day. Foreboding clouded his mind, yet there was no sign of the enemy anywhere. Suddenly, an ear splitting scream rose from ahead. The elf spun to look in the direction of the scream alert to possible attack. "Aragorn someone is in trouble!" the elf said quickly. Both he and Aragorn started to run in the direction the elf pointed, their senses were on high alert for the unknown danger ahead.

Legolas was the first to see the crumpled form in the grass. Seeing no danger around the still figure, he concentrated on who was laying there ahead. With shock, the elf saw it was none other then the ranger, Hellfire. "Aragorn it is the ranger!" he exclaimed worriedly, picking up his pace to reach the fallen man soonest. Aragorn followed a little behind due to the fact he was not an elf and could not run as fast. Aragorn watched as Legolas reached the ranger and dropped to the fallen man's side turning him gently to see what injuries he had. The look of confusion, shock and horror on Legolas' face made him fear the worst.

As Legolas turned the injured man, he received the shock of his life. The face that came into view was not only unscarred but amazingly fair. Long eyelashes lay against skin the color of porcelain, high cheekbones led to a well formed yet small nose which led to full lips the color of ripe cherries. The ranger was not a man but a woman! Trying to recover from the discovery of one of the ranger's secrets, Legolas carefully removed the part of the cloak hiding Fire's injuries from his sight. Aragorn arrived just as the elf removed the part of the cloak that was soaked in blood. His reaction was almost a mirror image of the elf's, but he shook himself free of the shock when the extent of the injuries were revealed.

Dropping to the other side of the injured woman, Aragorn lifted her tunic just enough to see the gash in her side. "We need to get her back to the others as quickly as possible. She has lost much blood and will need stitching to close this wound. We will camp now so she may rest and heal." Aragorn stated, as Legolas stood up holding the ranger in his arms, being careful not to hurt her more then she already was. They watched as delicately pointed ears and very pale hair, the color of moonlight, spilled forth, as her hood fell free. " She's an elf" Aragon exclaimed, while Legolas just stared unbelieving. Settling her more comfortably in his arms, Legolas raised an eyebrow at the ranger's second secret to be revealed in the space of moments before beginning the walk back to the Fellowship.

As he carried the hurt ranger, Legolas drifted into deep thought. 'Of all the secrets he could be hiding, being an Elven female was not even close to what I thought up. Why did Gandalf not at least tell us our ranger was a woman? What other secrets is she hiding? She looks Silvan, I wonder if she is from Lorien? Why would an elf join the rangers of the North? There is much she needs to explain and I will find out all she is hiding by the time this quest is over.' Snapping out of his thoughts, Legolas saw the rest of the Fellowship ahead of them. Heading straight towards Gandalf, Legolas felt his anger rising at the thought of what could have happened to the ranger and the fact the wizard himself had with held truths that endangered not only his slight burden but the whole quest as well. As soon as he was within speaking distance, Legolas snarled at Gandalf in Sindarian " Why did you not tell us? Do you truly think a female should be facing the fell creatures of Mordor? What else are you and she hiding from us?"

Before Gandalf could even begin to retort, the elven female in the elf's arms came awake with the force of a whirlwind. In her confusion she saw neither friend nor foe. All her jumbled mind could process was she was being held and orcs were near, so she reacted on instinct, sadly for Legolas. She head- butted him hard as she threw herself from his arms. Landing forcefully she rolled on her back, her legs striking out hard. The contact of feet and groin sent Legolas to his knees. Snarling with confused rage, the ranger yelled at the poor elf " You will not touch her again you son of a .." The sound of her fist thrown with all her strength was sickeningly loud. Legolas, who was already in pain, was unprepared for the force that connected solidly and both ranger and elf dropped into darkness.

This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.